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Tuesday, November 10, 2009

When the well-trodden becomes anew there is reason for joy. If certain white flowers have always seem unatainable to you, if you found yourself avoiding tuberose for reasons too complicated to unfold, all naturals indie brand Anya's Garden has two aces up her sleeves: Moondance and Starflower, two unconventional new fragrances that ~in typical Anya style~ will surprise you!

In the words of Anya McCoy inMoondance "water mint is underfoot as you dance among the violets and tuberose, as apple herb and roses sing softly".The ethereal touch of violets opens with a trompe l'oeil touch of the mint: is it there or isn't it? "This is not the direction toothpaste is going", I said to myself, when testing, as the familiar cold-on-a-hot-tongue feeling of industrial-strength fake mint didn't register. Yet, prompted by my desire to locate it, after reading the notes, I paid more attention and it is there if very subtly: But how strange! It only maxes out the dryad feeling of the woody-orris violets into cool green pistas! Herbal scents are difficult to harness, because they seem to project at a frequency that registers them either in the culinary (lamb chops roast) or the marginally aromatherapeutic: think tisanes and hot compresses. Yet, in Moondance the chamomille reminds one of nothing of the sort. Instead it fuses with the Rose de Mai absolute and the natural alpha ionone isolates (i.e.violet) into a synergistic ritual dance in the forest under, you guessed it, a full moon. Tuberose only hints at its presence, if you're not specifically searching for it, you might not realise that it is delicately weaved in here: its bombastic nature is well-behaved for once, like a loud, overactive child who is mesmerised briefly by the shooting stars into silence, as furry animals watch from a distance (Anya used hyrax tincture and hyrax absolute to render this fuzzy animalic comfort blanket). The general ambience is not unlike Isabel Doyen's creation for Les Nez The Unicorn Spell(which is similarly unisex) and lovers of the latter should definitely give a try to Moondance! My only gripe would be its relatively short lasting power, which means that you could use it on a scarf or ~even better~ a leather band on your wrist (How utterly charming! Why should Kurkdjian have all the fun?)

If your tastes do not run into the timid, but you're set for no-limits throttle, full-on speed, then Starflower is more your thing, and by Jove, ain't it mine! Anya McCoy presents floral gourmand Starflower as "candy flower, dreamy and steamy, almond cherry, chocolate and tuberose bring Mexico to you". A Mexican delicasy doesn't even begin to describe it, as luscious chocolate, allied to beautiful, slightly camphoraceous but oh-so-good-it-hurts patchouli (and possibly a maple touch) tempt the taste buds before the nostrils claim all the pleasure. There is nothing of the sanitised patchouli that mainstream brands churn out by the bucketload aiming at the fatigued nose-velcro of urbanites burned out on the Angel-doused armpits of commuters. This is the spirited love affair of rich essences which do not succumb but to the skillful hands of a certain Miami shores artisanal perfumer. The result in Starflower is oddly animalic, deep, incredibly lasting for an all-naturals perfume, and somewhat buttyric: Indeed a CO2 butter essence is hiding under the narcotically-scented tuberose (rendered into her edible vestige, posing for a screen-test with Marcolini and melting into a pool of cream). Anya reveals: "I first became aware of its use in ice cream from an 18th Century book Encarnación's Kitchen: Mexican Recipes from Nineteenth-Century California, and further research showed its use in other sweet desserts. My perfume musings got me to thinking, well, let's see how it would pair with vanilla and chocolate, two other tasty and fragrant offerings from Mexico." I can only say that Starflower should come with a cautionary label attached: "Restrain application or you're seriously risking at having your arms (or other body parts) nibbled on!"

A small precaution if I may would be to sample Moondance before indulging in Starflower, so as not to suffocate the more ethereal into the more full-bodied, much as one would do when tasting wines of different attributes, and cork-off them for a couple of minutes before sniffing (as all-naturals are famous for being too intense to fully grasp at first).Moondance and Starflower are available from Anya's Garden, in parfum extrait ($75 and $60) and an Eau de Parfum ($125 and $100) or $5 per sample.

Anya had the generosity of sending me two ample samples of the expensive scents for a lucky reader, along with those I sampled for reviewing. Enter a comment if you want to be in the drawing!

Between your praise, E., and then reading Chaya's, these sound like wonders not to be missed, especially for me, the Starflower. You almost had me salivating on that one!

I'm a bit concerned by the comparison of Moondance to The Unicorn Spell as that one had a violet note that grew into Godzilla proportions on me. Same thing happened with OJ's Woman. I'm wondering though if it might be iso E super paired with those violet ionones that is causing the blow up?

Great reviews! Anya has done it again, which comes as no surprise. I fell for MoonDance instantly--it's a gentle mystery, and I can't imagine a more beautiful pairing of violet and tuberose. StarFlower smells fantastic, but it's a little too delicious (I think) for me to wear. And by the way, I get a maple note, too.

Hi E, it's so strange, when I sniffed and blogged about these last week, I found MoonDance to be the most longlasting of her scents on me, perhaps this is where my ambivalent relationship to tuberose comes from, it sticks to me like glue! Tuberose, along with jasmine, vetiver, and cedar, are all the banes of my sniffing capabilities ; ) Amazing how different we all are, no? XXX

Both of these fragrances sound wonderful! I have love all of Anya's scents that I've sampled, but I've never sniffed these! I am especially interested in Moondance, since I love The Unicorn's Spell. Please enter me in the drawing!

Very interesting reviews! I'd certainly like to give these a try. And also, thanks for the "cork-off" advice. I've noticed with some DSH fragrances that there's a waiting period before things "normalize", but hadn't been smart enough to think of opening it a few minutes in advance...

"CO2 butter essence is hiding under the narcotically-scented tuberose (rendered into her edible vestige, posing for a screen-test with Marcolini and melting into a pool of cream" Hoo-aah. I don't know what that means but I want it!! Please enter me in the draw.

I think both of the perfumes you mention do have gigantic violet in there. I'm not 100% sure whether Isabelle Doyen used Iso-E Super in the The Unicorn Spell, but I am certain that Linda did in OJWoman. In Moondance the violet is discernable but it's not as prominent (it's certainly a non sweet violet), I'd say it's more of a mingled note. Still, if you absolutely hate violets, maybe it's not for you.

thanks! I agree that the beauty of Moondance is its unexpectedness. But then so is Starflower's: I really couldn't believe I liked something so sweet as much. Glad you get the maple-y note too, is it spice I wonder (fenugreek)?

noooo, really?! I guess you could say that we;re all different, I wouldn't have thought it would be so lasting on someone else. I usually test scents both ways: a drop on a blotter, a little on skin, so as to judge differences. This one evaporated from my skin very soon, on the blotter less so. Could it be body temperature that affects it so dramatically? (Could explain differences between folks too)

I am not sure if the drawing is still open, but I am very interested if it is. I have been reading reviews about Anya's perfumes and everyone absolutely sings her praises! The descriptions are beautiful and I am dying to try them first hand.

I see the Starflower and I smell it. I know what it is from your description. I don't need it, so I am not entering the contest. But I will say, to the winners, if you have a relative who is ill, than tuberose candles, off in the distance, even some of this perfume on a hanky, will lift their spirits. White flowers lift the spirits of both sexes and arouse the weary, calm the fussy child, and bless the recipient of the actual flowers.

Elena Vosnaki is executive editor of Fragrantica.gr, the leader in fragrance information in Greek, as well as a senior editor for the top english-speaking Fragrantica.com webzine.

Vosnaki has been Fragrance Expert on About.com and the Perfume History Curator of the Be Open Foundation exhibitionThe Garden of Wonders, A Journey in Scents in Milan. Her writing has been twice shortlisted in the FIFI Editorial Excellence Awards and is extensively quoted by authors. She is an evaluating expert on Osmoz.com.

Perfume Shrine is an award winning blog of 1000s of fragrance reviews (modern, niche, classic, vintage), articles on perfume history and aroma materials, comparisons of scents, interviews with perfumers & the fragrance industry, perfume shopping as well as scented travel memoirs, fine cuisine, tips on building a fragrance wardrobe and musings about the pleasures of the senses.